Forever Chair Glides

One of life's minor problems that can become major aggravations are the
glides one installs on the legs of chairs to protect the floor as people
shuffle the chairs around.
I've tried a lot of things. Glides that are nailed to the end of the leg
always seem to pull out, and tear the floor up if not caught in time. Soft
plastic mushrooms. Felt wears out and also captures grit. Polished steel
works, but seems to come only in nail-style glides.
And so on.
Gradually a list of requirements formed:
1. Must attach using a screw. No nails!
2. Must have a hard smooth durable surface that will not accumulate or embed
grit.
3. It should not wear out in less than ten years.
4. It cannot rust or corrode in indoor service. Outdoor service a plus.
5. It would be nice if they accommodate slightly uneven floors.
6. It would be nice if they weren't too expensive.
I did think of polished thick (stainless) steel washers countersunk to accept
a flat head wood screw. These can be found, but they are something like $5
per washer. I could make them, but it would be a lot of washers to make. And
I'm not the first to have this problem, so there has to be a commercial
product.
Then I thought of engineering plastics, the expensive kinds that don’t so
easily mushroom under pressure. Delrin jumped to mind, as it is quite strong
and hard, can be press fit (does not creep), and is very slippery. Makes good
bearings. This I could also machine, and a lot more easily than with
stainless steel.
On a lark, I googled on "delrin chair glide". Bingo - somebody already makes
them. So I bought a bunch and installed them on the four dining room chairs
several months ago. They worked very well, so I installed them on the six
kitchen chairs in May 2014. And replaced two failing nail-style glides just
in time to save the floor. (These glides can also be used for tables, but I
don’t recall if I installed any glides on the tables.)
The glides I'm using are "Forever Glides" from Max-Tech Products, Inc,
Englewood, CO. I got them from Sportys Tool Shop because Sportys had a
reasonable price, and had all the styles and colors. Transaction was smooth.
Cost less than $1 per chair leg, when bought in a pack of 20.
.<http://www.sportys.com/ToolShop
Each glide consists of four parts: Bottom and top, both of injection-molded
delrin, a piece of double-stick foam tape that goes between top and bottom,
and a steel sheet-metal screw that attaches the top to the chair leg. The
double-stick foam tape looks like the neoprene stuff used to attach trim to
automobiles. (It may in fact be EPDM, according to the patents. If EPDM,
beware of oil.) These glides are actually rated for outdoor use on patios.
Although not mentioned in the installation instructions, it's useful to make
a drill guide out of a small block of aluminum so the drilled holes will be
perpendicular to the bottoms of the chair legs and the screws will go in
straight.
For those interested in the gritty details, the US patent numbers are
5,680,673; 7,762,506; and patent application 2008/0148522. Also 7,762,506.
There are other patents not listed here.
This was first posted as “Chair Glides” on Rec.Crafts.Metalworking, on 26
May 2014, years before I joined Rec.Woodworking. There have been no problems
whatsoever with the Forever Glides. They just work.
Joe Gwinn

FWIW, I bought a roll of 1/4" F3 grade industrial pressed wool felt.
(Amazon.com product link shortened)
It's nothing like the stuff sold for use on furniture. I put it underneath
almost everything over two years ago and it still looks like new, despite my
toddler's best food- and drink-slinging efforts. The fibers are too tightly
packed to retain grit, though probably its not as great in that department
as the Delrin. There's no hint of any of it pulling apart or separating, not
even under the chairs which are constantly being slid around.
I used tin snips to cut it, and 3M aerosol adhesive (Super 77, I think)
under the wooden legs of the dining table and dining chairs. Everywhere else
the furniture is heavy enough that it didn't need to be attached.
<snip>

<snip>

I'll keep this in mind. Sounds like a winner, too. It's so hard to trust the
options out there because it's almost all total crap.
- Bill

Interesting stuff. Do you recommend sticking with the 1/4" stuff or do
you think that the 1/8" thickness would work as well if it provides
clearance for the bottom of whatever item one is sliding on the floor?

The 1/4" felt under the thin metal legs and tiny plastic feet of the bed
didn't compress as much as I expected given all the weight. My guess is that
1/8" would be enough for most cases, if not all cases.
The biggest benefit for me was being able to affix the pad with glue (if
anything at all), and not having to worry about a nail or screw scratching
the floors if the pad failed somehow. And I would think that would still be
the case with 1/8", compression or no compression.
Actually, when the 1/4" roll came I was a little worried it was, if
anything, too thick. Being so thick I worried the shear stress of being slid
around would eventually cause the felt to separate or to separate from the
legs. But it never has, which shouldn't be surprising given this grade of
industrial felt.
I lightly sanded the wood legs of the dining table and chairs hoping to get
good adhesion. The pieces were finished with Varathane's water-based
polyurethane, which (IIRC) I didn't completely sand away. I was a little
worried about the felt wicking moisture into the wood. 1/4" might better in
that regard. But hopefully I won't know for a long while how that turns out.
Also, I suppose that maybe 1/4" was better for the bed frame. The felt isn't
affixed with glue. Instead I cut the felt larger than the feet. None have
come off or even moved--not on any of the ~12 tiny feet, AFAICT--despite my
very inconsistently sized cuts. That's undoubtedly because the feet have
sunk into the felt. And 1/4" might give a better margin if a plastic
foot/cap ever breaks and the metal edge of the leg starts pressing into the
wool. But it's pretty dense felt and 1/8" might be fine in that regard.

This is the industrial stuff. McMaster-Carr also has it, with more variety.
It’s good stuff, but felt in general accumulates grit, like sand tracked
in, and even one big grain will grind the floor, especially wood floors.
Everything will be OK until suddenly it isn’t OK.

You’re right about that, as my saga shows. Basically, nothing in the local
hardware stores worked.
But my key observation was that until the nail pulled out, the hardware-store
hammer-in glides which have a smooth steel foot worked the best. This is why
I was looking at stainless-steel washers held by a screw, which led to delrin
which led to Forever Glides.
The hell of it is that the Forever Glides cost less than the junk in the
hardware store. The only disadvantage was that installation takes more work -
one cannot drive the screw directly into hardwood, one must pre-drill the
hole with a simple jig (a small block of aluminum with a guide hole drilled
in it) to ensure that the hole isn’t too crooked despite the odd shape of
the legs. But then one does this once.
Joe Gwinn

On that note, Amazon shows the 20 Forever wood glides at $56, free
shipping. Your link, Sporty's Tool Shop shows them at $18, dunno what
shipping is. My guess, and just a guess, is shipping is a lot less than
$38 for a pack of 20, but I'd check before buying. Amazon is in my
cross hairs for ripping off their customers and due dilligence is required.

7. Noise reduction
Seems the Delrin casters are of hard material, maybe fine for outdoors, but
not sure about indoors. On hardwood/ceramic floors, I would think they w
ould "make noise", as the furniture is dragged across the floor.
Many folks are allergic to wool (felt), though an allergic reaction usually
requires direct contact with the wool. The more common, cheaper Walmart-t
ype felt casters are made of polyester, a reasonable substitute for those a
llergic to wool, despite the dust collecting and falling-apart issues with
this cheaper product.
Sonny

On wood, no noise.
I don’t have a suitable ceramic tile floor to test, but I wouldn’t expect
delrin to be noisy there either. I don’t recall any such complaints when I
was researching these glides.
Lee Valley & Veritas says no problem, well no
marring:<http://www.leevalley.com/US/hardware/page.aspx?pP308&cat=3,40993,41285>
In the Forever Glide, the footpad is connected to the cup with a piece of
double-sticky rubber foam tape, which will further absorb noise. Maybe steel
would make noise on a ceramic floor, but delrin is far softer than steel.

One can buy industrial-grade polyester felt from McMaster-Carr, if wool is a
problem:<https://www.mcmaster.com/#felt /w8eey>.
This will also have the grit-accumulation properties of wool felt.
Joe Gwinn

Quite welcome.
Make yourself a drill guide block for use while installing glides of chair
legs, to ensure that the screw is perpendicular to the bottom of the leg.
It’s hard to do freehand without a guide.
The bag of twenty is cheapest per.

That’s serious. The edges look a bit sharp. I bet they cost more than $1
each. Not for use on ceramic floors.
Joe Gwinn

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